Direction indicator



Jan. 10, 1928.

' R. L. KIMBALL DIRECTION INDICATOR Filed Aug. 25. 1926 INVENTOR. 21715 2 Sh9ets s l f f vf Jan. 10, 1928. 1,655,907

R. L. KIMBALL DIRECTI 0N INDICATOR E Filed Aug. 25. 1926 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 56 i7 9 I J J7 J7 J lYuimmmh INVENTOR.

i as

li atented darn Ml,

will a DIRESTIUN INDICATOR.

Application filed august $5, 15926. Eierial N0. wh t-2t.

llhis invention relates to an improvement in direction indicators, more particularly adapted for use on motor vehicles, and has tor its object to provide a direction indicator or this character adapted to be attached "to the motor vehicle in a position to he viewer from the front thereof, with nesting; sections mounted to be raised to eztpose thesaineto view, and each. section provided with a dirt iterent desired signal marking thereon.

it. turther object of this invention is to provide a plurality of. nesting sections located in a. suitable housing with means imraising the sections into pos ion to expose the marking thereon, and with means for ilhuninatinp;- theinarlring.

it. still turther object or this invention is to provide a housing having nesting sections which may he raised to expose a signal niarlring thereon to be viewed from the front of the vehicle, and electric circuit closing means operated. simultaneously with the eirposinp; ot the section for illuminating corresponding signals positioned to be viewed troin the rear oi? the motor vehicle.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features oat construction as will he more telly doscribed and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 7

in the accompanying drawings llirgure l is a traginentalside elevation shewinr; the signal housing as mounted on the steering post oil: a. motor vehicle in posi tion to he viewed through the windshield thereo'h lt igure 2 is a perspective view of the rear ot the housing showing- 'thecover raised.

lfiigure 3 is perspective view oi? the front or the housingshowing one ot the sections raised to expose its signal thereon and the other sections nested therein.

l ip 'ure t is a perspective skeleton view showing one of the sections and its operating; mechanism.

Tirjureh is a perspective view of a detail lot the operating ineans tor one or? the sections.

lifigure (3 is a perspective view of one of the springs tor raising the section to expose the signal thereon ltigure is a perspective view ol a sprm tor holding thelatch means in locked pos1- tion.

Figure 8 is a. tragincntal elevation wi h ill) thehousing partly in section showing the position oi the releasing means and the switches operated by the releasing means.

Figure 9 is a side elevation ol' one of the sections and its sup aorting arm, the some being; shown in dot-tedlin'es in its raised position. a

Figure 10 is a diagrammatic view showing; the electric circuit'which is used in conjunc tion"with "the signal device.

liigure 11 is an -end. elevation of the casing housing the rear signal device.

llt round, in the practical operation of direction indicators tor automobiles, particularly those used. in closed cars of advantage to provide direction indicating means which may he readily operated by the driver of the vehicle to indicate to the approaehed trali'ic ol'liccr at the intersection or cross-roads the direction which it is desired that the vehicle should talre.

It is alsoldesirahle to "provide-means operated in conjunction with a direction signal to be viewed from the front, a corresponding signal to be viewed from the rear ot the vehicle in order that a following; vehicle operator may he informed of any turn to the right or left which the vehicle is about to take; andto provide such a device. lhave mounted nesting sections within a housing witlr rneans to selectively operate or raise the diliterent sections to-eirpose a signal inarlc 1.. thereon and indicate the direction the vehicle is about to take; and it have also pro vided electric incansto be simultaneously operated to indicate at the rear ot' the vehicle a signal corresponding to that exposed 'inthe front;- and the tollowi'ngis a detailed; de scription of the present embodiment of this invention and showing the one means by which these advantageous results may be accomplished.

tlYith reference to the drawings, 10 designates the steering, wheel of motor vehicle on the; steering post ll, on which there is mounted a housing; 153 by means of a bracket 13 clamped thereto. 'llhe housino' i2 is in a position exposed to view the si 1 thereon tl'irough the windshield 14- ot the vehicle,

and comprises a hon-like structure oit any suitable shape with cover 15 hinged to he raised by anupward swinging movement of one of the seciions in the housing.

Suitably mounted on a rod in there are a pluralityot sections l7, l8 and 19, each havltlii ing different direction marking thereon, and springs and auxiliary sprlngs 20 tending to swing the section from its housed position may be used. These markings may be constructed by placing a mask or the like i behind the transparent plate which is'suita bly'illuminated by the lamps 24 and may be seen through the transparent or translucent covering.- Each of the sections is operated in substantially the same manner, and there tore,1but-one of the sections as illustrated in Figure 4 will be described.

A tab 25 is carried by the face plate of each section, which is locked against the raising action of the spring 20 by means of pin 26 extending through opening 27 111 the tab; The pin is held in locking position by means of a spring 28 acting through the links 29, 30 and rod 31. This locking pin is moved to release the section by a push rod 32 havinga handle 33 extending outwardly through the housing, as illustrated in Figure 2. When the locking means is released bya downward presure'on the handle 33, a latch' 34, which is more clearly shown in Figure 5, is swung by means of a spring 36 to position its offset portion 37 over the link 30. and retain the locking pin in its releasing position. The latch is moved to disengage thelink 30 when the section returns to its housed or nested position by the edge 38 of the, section engaging the V-shaped notched portion 39 of the offset end of the latch, to

move it against the action of the spring and permit the releasing means to move upwardly by under-tension of a spring 28 and the'pin 26 to engage the opening in the tab to hold the section in its housed position.

f'j-As Will be seen in Figure 8, link 40 pivotedto the sector-shapedend 22 of the section at 41 and to this link there'is pivotally'connected a second link 42 which is pivoted to across-rod 43 mounted in housing. When the section swings to its raised or exposed position as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 9, these links through which spring 20 acts to raise the section serve to guide and assist in supportingthe section in 'this'position; and to retract 01' lower the 'is attached with a handle 47 through which the rod 44 may be moved to swing the link 42 and causes the section to swing downwardly'to its housed and locked position.

The sector-shaped ends of each of the see tions are suitably notched as at 48 to receive the retracting rod 44.

The raised section is illuminated by means of the electric lamps 24 which are located in an electric circuit, as illustrated in Figure 10, which is provided with a plurality oi switches 49, any one of which when closed causes the lamps 24 to be lighted; the same illuminating means 24 is used For any of the sections raisec. The switches 4-9 are closed by lever 59 pivoted at 51 which is beneath the link 30, and a movement of this link downwardly by means oi a rod 32 and handle 33 causes the contacts of the switch 49 to be closed to complete the circuit and light the lamps 24. These contacts have sullicient inherent resiliency to spring apai t upon the raising of the link 80 to the position in which the section is locked in its housing.

In order that a signal corresponding to that in front may be operated in the rear oi the vehicle, lamp 52 is provided which has an indicating means 56 corresponding with the section operated by the handle 53; and lamp 54 is provided having an indicating means 57 which corresponds with the signal operated by thehandle and in order to illuminate corresponding signal simultaneously in the front and in the rear, a switch arm 58 is provided having inherent resiliency tending to move it toward one of the contact arms 49 which movement is permitted by the movement of the handle 53 to swing the lever 50 to close the contact arms of the said switch 49 and thus complete the desired circuit, as will be apparent in Figure 10, to illuminate the desired corresponding signals in the front and rear. The lamps 52 and 54 are mounted in any suitable casing such as that illustrated in Figure 11.. The switches 58 are positioned to be operated only by the end releasing means to indicate in the rear a right or left turn, the middle releasing means being for the signal Straight which it is not necessary should be indicated in the rear.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I. have provided a mechanically operated direction-indieating device for the front of a motor vehicle and provided electrically operated means "for illuminating the front signal and at the same time illuminating the desired rear signal, the means lfor operating the signal being selective, and the entire unit being mounted in a suitable housing with binding posts 59 for attachment of suitable electric conductors, the selective operating means and the retracting means all being readily accessible to be easily and quickly manipulated by the driver of the motor vehicle.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated but I iii serve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to Which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

1. In a signal device, a plurality of nesting sections normally nested together, each carrying a dili er'ent signal marking thereon, manually selective mechanical means for automatically moving one of the sections to expose the desired signal, and mechanical means for returning the moved section to its place in the nested. position.

21in a signalling device, a housing, a cover therefor, a section carrying a signal marking thereon mounted in said housing, a: spring tending to move said section and to raise the cover and expose tl e signal marking of the moved section to view, means for retaining the section in said housing against the action of the spring, and a handle for manually releasing said retaining means.

3. ln a signal device, a housing, a cover therefor, a plurality of sections nestingly mounted in said housing, each carrying a different signal marking thereon, springs tending to move said sections and to raise the cover and expose the signal marking carried by said sections to view, separate means for retaining each o't'said sections in said housing against the action of its spring, and selective means for releasing the retaining means of the desired section to permit movement thereof.

l. In a signalling device, a housing, a cover therefor, a section carrying a signal marking thereon mounted in said housing, aspring tending to move said section and to raise the cover and expose the signal mark ing on said moved section to view, means for retaining the section in said housing against the action oi the spring, a handle for manually releasing said retaining means, and means for returning the moved section to locked position in the housin In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

RALPH L. KIMBALL, 

